


You found me

by swallowthewhale



Series: Killervibe Week [22]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bookstore, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - No Powers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:15:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25962670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swallowthewhale/pseuds/swallowthewhale
Summary: Cisco runs a coffee shop beside a bookstore and is trying to convince the owner that it could be beneficial to knock down the wall between their shops. She’s being a big pain in the ass about it.Killervibe Week 2020: Coffee Shop
Relationships: Cisco Ramon/Caitlin Snow
Series: Killervibe Week [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/752097
Comments: 6
Kudos: 14
Collections: Killervibedaily Events





	You found me

“No,” Caitlin says flatly, not even looking at Cisco as she reorganizes the La-Lu shelf of the fiction section.

Cisco absently hands her the next book to shelve as he tries to think up an argument she hasn’t already shot down. “C’mon,” he says. “Think of how good it would be for business.”

“For you,” Caitlin shoots back. “I want people to buy books, not sit around drinking coffee.”

“Aw, Caitlin, c’mon,” Cisco says, withholding the next book on the stack so she’ll pay attention. He waves it around to make his point. “We could have promotions and stuff! Like, buy ten books, get a free coffee. Or themed menus to promote different books. Or - oh! - a reading challenge!”

Caitlin glares at him, hands on her hips. “And where am I supposed to put all the shelves from the wall you want to tear down? And who’s going to pay for all this, Cisco? I can’t afford a big renovation or the business I’ll lose while its happening.”

She snatches the book out of his hand.

“The answer is no.”

Cisco refuses to be deterred, even though he has to admit defeat for the day. He’s been trying to sell Caitlin on the idea for nearly a month and all his cool ideas have gotten him nowhere. And having run straight at the brick wall that is Caitlin Snow for the nearly two years their shops have been neighbors, he suddenly realizes that he’s been approaching her all wrong. Caitlin doesn’t bend to fun promotions or cool themes in the face of an expensive project with no concrete benefits. She needs numbers. Cold, hard numbers.

He leaves the subject alone for the rest of the week, and even though Caitlin narrows her eyes at him suspiciously every time he comes over to bring her lunch or check out the new books in the cooking section, she seems to let things go back to their normal friendly relationship.

Instead, Cisco puts together frankly the best business proposal he ever has, with a bit of help from Felicity and Iris. There’s financial data for both of their stores, projected gains, budgets, promotional ideas and the costs, and even some sweet graphics he whipped up last minute in the hopes that pretty figures might sway Caitlin if nothing else would. Felicity contributes income data from some similar ventures, Iris gives him polling numbers about consumer preferences for coffee store bookshops and even offer to cover the “merger” in her paper when it happens, and Cisco slaves over the whole packet until he’s confident that every number is perfect.

He also spends an inordinate amount of time on the note he writes to stick to the front of the manila folder he puts everything in. And then he leaves it on her desk in her tiny office in the back of the bookshop with her coffee order while she’s ringing a customer and hurries out before she can scold him for bringing it all up again after he’d dropped it.

The truth is that Cisco doesn’t really know why he’d latched onto this idea so strongly. His coffee shop is doing fine without taking on the costs and risks of a renovation and merger with a bookshop, and he could have easily forgotten about the whole thing the first time Caitlin shot it down, but it had stuck in his brain. He just has this vision for Caitlin’s cozy bookshop spilling into the bright, energetic coffee shop, with customers milling between the two to peruse the bookshop after getting their morning coffee or to find a comfortable place to sit and read with the newest bestseller.

Its not even like their aesthetics would merge well, or that their business styles work well. Its more that Cisco had met Caitlin when she took over the bookstore after the previous owner retired and had instantly liked her no-nonsense personality and her quirky sense of humor. And the fact that she was able to instantly peg him as a sci-fi fan and give him some great recommendations he’d never read before was certainly a bonus.

Cisco doesn’t have to wait too long for Caitlin’s response to his secret project. She marches in just after the lunch crowd fades, smacks the packet down on the counter, and just scowls at him.

“Hey,” Cisco says, grinning at her. “Do you want a coffee? You don’t usually go for caffeine this late in the day.”

She narrows her eyes at him.

“Okayyy,” Cisco says slowly, holding his hands up innocently. “No coffee.” He sighs. “Did you even read it?”

“Of course I did,” Caitlin snaps.

Cisco raises his eyebrows. “And?” He’s expecting a no, and a thorough telling-off for continuing to push her when she’s made her opinion perfectly clear.

“Okay,” Caitlin says instead.

“Okay,” Cisco groans. “I’ll stop ask- wait.”

Caitlin already looks like she’s already regretting it.

“You said yes?” Cisco’s voice rises in excitement. He laughs incredulously, coming around the counter to hug her around the shoulders, making her squeak. “You said yes!”

Caitlin sighs, patting him awkwardly on the back until he lets her go. “I have conditions,” she warns. “Lots of conditions.”

Cisco bends at the waist, hands still on her shoulders. “I never thought you would agree!”

“I can still change my mind,” Caitlin says, a warning note in her voice.

But when Cisco straightens back up, he can see the smile tugging at her mouth. “Whatever you want to do,” he promises. “We’ll make it work.”

* * *

The discussions about how exactly to connect the two shops rage for nearly two weeks before they come to an agreement. Cisco pitches knocking down the whole wall for a truly connected area, but Caitlin nixes it quickly, offering instead a door between the two shops. They bicker back and forth about it until they finally agree on a waist height wall with short bookshelves on one side, barstools on the other, and a little gate to connect the two sides.

After that, it’s a whirlwind of financial decisions and hiring contractors and making plans for merging the brands in ways that feel true to both. Caitlin concedes to Cisco on a bunch of the ideas he’d pitched to her already, lets him and Wally take over their social media strategy, and requests only that he let her have free rein on the little rotating book displays they’re scattering through the coffee shop.

Cisco feels Caitlin warming up to the whole idea as the weeks go by. She gets excited about coming up with literary names for drinks on the menu and planning their first promotional event for opening week. Cisco even coaxes her into helping him paint the new wall diving their shops with him on a Monday afternoon.

“Why were you so sure this was a good idea?” Caitlin asks, carefully painting along the edges of the trim while Cisco enthusiastically covers the wall next to her.

He hesitates. “I don’t know, it was kind of always in the back of my head when I opened a coffee shop, I guess. It just seemed like the right time.”

Caitlin lifts an unconvinced eyebrow at him. “With me?” She asks skeptically.

“Yeah, of course,” Cisco says, grinning. He bumps her shoulder gently with his. “Who else would I do this with?”

She wrinkles her nose. “I’m not exactly a likable person. Why didn’t you ask the Steins before they retired?”

Cisco shrugs. “The Steins were great, but…” He waves his paintbrush at her. “Sometimes you just get a feeling about a person, ya know? And you’re very likable, once you stop glaring at people for bringing drinks into the bookshop,” he teases.

Caitlin flushes at the memory, her first day in the bookshop when he’d brought coffee over to introduce himself and she’d snapped at him. “I didn’t think you’d want to be friends with me after that,” she admits softly, avoiding his gaze. “I was terrible to you.”

“You apologized,” Cisco says, “and besides, you were right. The sign very clearly says no beverages.”

“Still,” Caitlin hedges. “Why me?”

Cisco sighs, tugs her brush out of her hand and puts both down on a rag. He takes her hands in his. “Caitlin, I like you. Why is that so hard to believe?”

“After-” her chin wobbles and she clears her throat. “Before I came here, there was this guy, Jay. He was really nice, very sweet. And it was the first time I’d even thought about dating anyone since Ronnie. But it turned out he wasn’t who he said he was. His name wasn’t even Jay.”

Cisco squeezes her hand.

“I guess I have trust issues,” she says. “I’m sorry I’m so difficult-“

“Stop,” Cisco says gently. “Don’t apologize. I like you just the way you are, prickles and all.”

Caitlin giggles a bit and lets him pull her into a hug.

Cisco steps back and picks up their brushes to hand hers back. “We can be friends, right?”

“Cisco.” Caitlin says, blushing. “I think you’re my best friend.”

Cisco beams, but doesn’t linger on her obvious discomfort and turns the discussion to the lighter topics of a book by his favorite author coming out and the newest Jane Austen movie adaptation he’d been trying to talk her into going to see.

Caitlin walks into the bookshop the next day to find Iris perched on the edge of the counter, legs crossed, and flipping through one of the books Caitlin had put on display that morning.

“Hey,” Iris says, sliding down and putting the book back.

“Hi, Iris,” Caitlin says cautiously, going around to her side of the register. Caitlin had met Iris, who rented the office space upstairs for her newspaper, when she took over the bookstore several years ago, but they had never clicked the way Iris and Cisco had.

“So,” Iris says matter-of-fact, resting her elbows on the counter. “You and Cisco.”

Caitlin freezes. “What about us?”

Iris gives her an unimpressed look. “I think you know,” she says. “Are you ever going to give him a chance?”

Caitlin stares at her, baffled. Finally she gestures toward the newly painted divider between their shops. “Haven’t I already?”

Iris rolls her eyes. “I don’t mean with business. I mean _you and Cisco_.”

Caitlin sighs. “Iris, we’re just friends.”

Her eyebrows inch farther up. “Is that how he feels?”

Caitlin crosses her arms defensively, frowning. “Iris,” she says warningly.

Iris pushes off the counter to stand upright. “Let me lay it out for you,” she says. “Cisco really likes you, and I think he deserves to at least know where you stand.”

“Where I stand?” Caitlin asks faintly. “But I- he never-”

Iris’ face softens, and she lays a hand over Caitlin’s. “He’s liked you since he met you. Everyone can see it. He’s just afraid to say something.”

Iris disappears when it’s clear Caitlin is too stunned to respond. Caitlin leaves Wally in charge of finishing up the restocking and hides in her office until lunch, when she realizes she’ll have to face Cisco and strongly considers going home for the day so she can sort out her thoughts before she sees him again. But she sits in indecision too long and Cisco knocks on her office door before she can escape without notice.

He grins at her as he offers a sandwich and tea. “Tomorrow’s the big day!”

Caitlin takes the food, inspecting the sandwich with greater than usual interest. “Mhmm.”

Cisco’s grin fades and he sits in the chair opposite hers. “What’s wrong?”

She looks up at him and then away just as quickly, already feeling her cheeks burning. “Nothing. This looks great!”

Cisco raises his eyebrows. “You eat the same thing every day, Caitlin. What’s wrong? Are you nervous about tomorrow?”

Caitlin sighs, fiddling with the tea bag. “No, it’s just something Iris said. It doesn’t matter.”

“Ah,” Cisco says, leaning forward to try to catch her eye. “It doesn’t matter so that’s why you’re holed up in here avoiding everyone.”

She groans, covering her face with her hands. “Irissaidyoulikeme.”

Cisco peels her hands off her face. “Try that again?”

Caitlin looks down at their hands. “Iris said you like me.”

He rolls his eyes. “Obviously I like you. I don’t go into business with people I don’t like.”

Caitlin finally meets his gaze, and her miserable expression must say more than her words did, because his hands slip off hers and his face darkens.

“Oh,” he says.

“Cisco, I-”

“She shouldn’t have done that,” Cisco interrupts. “She should have let _me_ tell you.”

“I know, but-”

“Caitlin,” he sighs. “I don’t expect anything from you, okay? I’m happy to just be friends.”

“Cisco,” Caitlin says firmly. “I don’t really know how I feel about all this yet - or about you - except that I know I want us to be friends. But,” she smiles shyly at him, “I think I’d like for you to tell me yourself, someday, if you still feel the same way.”

“Yeah?” Cisco asks, his grin returning.

Caitlin matches it. “Yeah.”

* * *

Caitlin sits with her chin in her hand, gazing absently at the month’s financials as her mind wanders towards the more interesting prospect of a kid’s summer reading challenge. Cisco had been right, about everything. Combining their shops had boosted business for both of them and all of his promotional ideas had been hugely successful. And Caitlin’s tentative assertion nearly a year ago that Cisco was her best friend in a time where she didn’t even really have any friends had turned into a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. The revelation from Iris about Cisco’s feelings for her had been put aside and they’d forged ahead in both their business relationship and friendship. Cisco introduced her to a bunch of his friends, Cisco and Iris had a frank conversation about boundaries, and Caitlin and Iris finally found their footing as friends.

But the truth was that despite all of Caitlin’s new friends, Cisco was still the one who could talk her down from an anxiety spiral or tempt her out of her apartment when all she wanted to do was curl up with a book and hot chocolate. He talked her into going to see movies and get ice cream with him, invited her to parties and game nights, and never failed to know exactly when she needed a caffeine pick-me-up or an afternoon snack. And slowly, but surely, Cisco became her best friend. And then, slowly and all at once, Caitlin fell in love with him.

“Hey,” Cisco says from her doorway, startling Caitlin out of thoughts of book lists and prizes.

“Hi,” Caitlin says, clearing a space on her desk for both of their lunches.

“How’s your morning been?” Cisco asks, setting down two sandwiches for them.

Caitlin doesn’t respond, staring at him with a furrowed brow.

He waves his hand in front of her face. “Caitlin?”

She blinks. “Sorry.”

“What’s going on?” Cisco asks, leaning forward intently.

Caitlin fiddles with a napkin. “Remember last year, when I said you should tell me how you feel yourself, someday.”

Cisco swallows. “Yeah.”

Caitlin meets his eyes. “I think maybe I need to tell you how I feel.”

His eyes widen. “Okay,” he says slowly.

Caitlin chews on her lip for a moment, unsure how to begin, but then just blurts out, “I’m in love with you.”

Cisco gapes at her for a moment. “Wha- you- with me?”

Caitlin blushes. “Yes.”

His mouth moves silently. “Since when?” He finally asks.

Caitlin shrugs. “A little while.”

Cisco stands and Caitlin watches nervously as he moves around her desk to take her hand and draw her up to her feet.

“Cisco?” Caitlin asks quietly.

She’s cut off by his hand on her cheek and then his mouth on hers. “Okay,” he says when he pulls away.

“Okay,” Caitlin laughs, winding her arms around his neck to pull him down for another kiss.


End file.
